FILM, SERIES, SYSTEMS AND SYNTAGMS
Under the epigraph of syntagms of excess one can find a variety of objects that partake in more than one category or logic. However there are certain things that they all have in common. First of all, they all challenge the standard duration time of a film or TV show. Secondly, they deploy an excessive narrative due to multi-faceted characters, complex temporal alteration, and graphic depiction of sex, violence and morbidity. And in third place, they provoke visceral reactions in the spectator, who embody the excess of the narrative, feeling the emotion from an all-sensitive perception. In the case of films, the long form is the one that goes beyond the normative time of 90-180 minutes. The films gather in this wiki last for more than 5 hours, permitting an experience of sensorial and emotional immersion for the spectators. Although extreme length is the principal characteristic, not every long narrative is a syntagm of excess. There are video installations or contemplative documentaries of very long duration which only provide an excessive form, but not an excessive narrative, since they do not channel the excess in emotion from the screen to the body of the spectator. Miniseries are another example of syntagms of excess because its total duration its is 5-10 hours. Besides, they normally give a sense of authorial unity and coherence that adds to the idea of tight system. Some series like True Detective (HBO, 2014-) or American Horror Story (FX, 2011-) can be also considered under this category because each season functions as a miniseries, autonomous from the previous or the following one(s). There are also films divided in parts whose plots and characters are continues. Put another way: films that have to be seen as a system of various segments and not as an original narrative and sequels. This is very common in certain franchise as Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Star Wars, etc. Nonetheless, the examples that are closer to the idea of syntagm of excess would be Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill (2003-2004), or Steven Soderbergh's Che, el argentino and Che, Guerrilla (2008). Their complex temporalities and extreme characters, along with their excessive representation of violence and emotion make them narrative of excess. Nevertheless, there could also be arguments against the incorporation of the two of them in the category, since they were released as two separate products, as Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 or as Part 1 and Part 2, respectively. In the times of digital storytelling and media convergence, those kinds of syntagms are not exclusively seen on conventional film theaters or TV sets. Currently, audiences have migrated to digital platforms and narratives are indistinctly channeled through every media (sometimes combining more than one). Netflix or HBO Go, for example, are both, a platform for series and a catalog of films; and as a result, the place where different forms of syntagms of excess coexist. The possibility of online streaming or video on demand enhances the audience immersion and permits the overcoming of the fragmentation of the syntagm. Nowadays it is possible to enjoy the full experience of an excessive narrative from the beginning to the end without any external interruption. This question permits to look at Kill Bill or Che through a different critical lens. According to Christian Metz films and TV shows are text that can be divided in syntagmatic units,which functions as codes of a language. Syntagmatic units are common patterns that connect those narratives in paradigmatic relations, approaching the category of syntagms of excess to the idea of a film/TV genre. If it is a genre, a subgenre, a mode or a tendency is not relevant for the analysis. What is important is the recognition of units that express the general idea of syntagm and can be. One of these units is what Christian Metz calls autonomous unit. It can be identified as a sequence shot filmed in continuity. However since they are metonymies of the whole narrative, those sequence shots are necessarily excessive in their form and their content. A very striking example is the final sequence of the fourth episode of True Detective (first season), where the camera performs a complex pilgrimage accompanying Rust Cohle, played by Matthew McConaughey, in his desperate assault and escape from the hideout of a gang. Works Cited: Metz, Christian. Film Language: A Semiotics of Cinema. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991 Category:Film Category:Cinema Category:TV Series Category:TV Shows Category:Sequence Shot Category:Christian Metz Category:Miniseries